


by the world forgot

by firstaudrina



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018), Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon - Book, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22887760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstaudrina/pseuds/firstaudrina
Summary: Nick insists upon following the rules of mortal courtship, so he walks Harvey home after their practice date. FollowsDaughter of Chaoscanon.
Relationships: Harvey Kinkle/Nicholas Scratch
Comments: 18
Kudos: 174
Collections: hekiv's CAOS collection





	by the world forgot

**Author's Note:**

> This is set within SRB's _Sabrina_ tie-in novels. What it presupposes is, instead of drama infecting the town, Nick took Harvey home after their pseudo-date. I imagine it would not make much sense without having read _Daughter of Chaos_ , which is really just more encouragement to go read _Daughter of Chaos_.

With an almost academic air, Nick asks, “Now what?” He leans forward slightly with his arms clasped behind his back, like a curious professor. 

“Now you leave me alone for the rest of my life?” Harvey asks hopefully. “Now I get to go inside my Nick-free house and not answer any questions about how mortals date, or hear about weird witch stuff, and no one embarrasses me in front of passing acquaintances?”

Nick smiles. Or, rather, his mouth twists at the corners, mocking or maybe sincere — it’s hard to tell with Nick. Harvey’s starting to wonder if his face just looks like that. “Is that how mortals say goodnight after a first date?”

Harvey groans. They’re standing on his front porch because Nick wanted to walk him home after the movies, where they had been on a _practice_ date — an anthropological experiment, Harvey would have reassured anyone who asked. But no one did, not even when he crossed his fingers and hoped for it. It was practice for Nick dating Sabrina. Harvey still didn’t quite understand how he’d gotten roped into that, especially because he wasn’t really an expert in Sabrinaisms these days. She was out of his reach, and a lot nearer to Nick’s. And if Harvey couldn’t — wouldn’t — be with her, then at least he could make sure the person who was gave her everything she deserved.

But all of Nick’s witchy attempts had apparently fallen on unresponsive ears, so he wanted to know how a mortal might court her. Which was where Harvey came in, and their date to the movies.

No, not _their_ date. The practice date. The _example_ date. If life was a practice test for the SATs, then Nick and Harvey’s movie date would follow right after the question but before the multiple choice. _Is it normal to give your ex-girlfriend’s future boyfriend tips on how to woo her? Ex. Harvey took Nick to the movies to accustom him to mortal dating rituals. Is this: A) crazy, B) psychologically riveting, C) a sign of deep and un-ignorable loneliness, D) all of the above._

Nick would probably like it if Harvey came up with multiple choice scenarios for him, because he was a nerd, and a shockingly thorough one. Hence the movie tickets, the bucket of popcorn, and walking Harvey all the way to his door. Harvey was surprised that Nick didn’t turn up with flowers, but when he made a joke about it, Nick had looked deeply horrified.

_Mortals are crushingly morbid_ , Nick had said, chilled. _Is it because you die so quickly?_

Harvey didn’t justify that with more than an eye-roll. Now he tells Nick, “Mortals say, ‘Thank you for the lovely time. I’ll call you.’ Even if it’s a lie. And then they go inside to not talk to Nick Scratch at all.”

Now it really is a smile, but there’s something aching in it, a wistfulness that steals over Nick’s face sometimes. He gets it for weird things, like trays of half-assed lasagna and Harvey’s good pens. He won’t stop stealing them. “Is that how it was with Sabrina?”

Images flash through Harvey’s brain unbidden: dance-laughing up the long path to Sabrina’s house, chasing each other and twirling around, swinging her up into his arms so he could deposit her on the steps for a kiss. He feels an ache then, too. “No. Not really.”

Nick takes pity on him. Or maybe he’s just an endless font of inquiries and occasionally they come at the right time. This one gives Harvey a minute to clear his throat and blink away any feelings he’s having that might have lent a gleam to his eyes. “I’ve heard that sometimes mortals come back for a drink?”

He’s angling. For leftovers or coffee or tea, something. It must be dire at the Invisible Academy if Nick is always so eager for Harvey’s sad, empty house.” “We’re not twenty-one.” He doesn’t mention that his house is dry now, all his dad’s bottles poured down the drain. “No drinks.”

“You have no idea how old I am,” Nick points out. “I could be a hundred and twenty-one for all you know.”

That shocks Harvey a little. He’s heard Sabrina’s aunties make reference to plagues and ship voyages, talk about long-dead kings and queens like old friends. But it wasn’t until this exact moment that he thought it was anything besides their weird sense of humor.

“Anyway, most witches were weaned on mead and whiskies,” Nick continues. “But alright, mortal. I’ll take coffee.”

Harvey levels him with a look. “Nick.”

Nick returns the expression with one that seems to say, _fine, have it your way_. “Thank you for the lovely time,” he says with perfect politeness. “I’ll call you.”

There’s half a laugh on Harvey’s lips, but it dissipates when Nick leans in to kiss him. On his _mouth_. 

Harvey intends to say _what the hell, man_ , but his brain is already tangling itself into too many knots. Already he’s adding hasty qualifiers, like, _it’s okay if you want to kiss a guy, or even if you want to kiss me, but you have to give somebody a heads-up_ — and then he stops there, because why would Nick want to kiss _him_? 

What Harvey intends to do is protest, but what Harvey does is different. He sucks in a quiet breath, his lips parted and eyes closed. And he just kind of — wavers there. The air between them is chilled and somehow substantial, with exact dimensions. 

“Oh, heaven’s harps, that was wrong, wasn’t it?” Nick sighs and straightens ( _ha ha_ , thinks Harvey), hands folded almost demurely. “I’m supposed to ask beforehand. My apologies, mortal.” 

“Yeah, I — asking’s good, man,” Harvey says, or his mouth does, because the rest of him is still operating on a different wavelength. Why _did_ Nick kiss him?

“I thought a goodnight kiss was traditional at the end of an encounter. Even for witches. Some spells require them, in fact — mostly spells of camaraderie and new love, but —"

This grand experiment is not a two-way street: Nick may want to get his PhD in mortal studies, but Harvey doesn’t want to know anything about witchcraft. Words push their way out of him again and as they do, Harvey shakes off the last of his surprise. “They’re not required. And, like, read a room, dude.”

Nick pauses. His head tilts and his eyes narrow in a quizzical way. “Why are you suddenly calling me ‘man’ and ‘dude’?”

“I don’t know, buddy,” Harvey says, biting back a _bro_. “Why do you always call me mortal?”

“Because it’s easier than remembering your name.”

God, Nick Scratch is an asshole. Harvey turns to the door with keys in hand and fits them easily into the lock, jangling. He used to keep a keychain from Sabrina on the ring. It was a weird little homemade confection of leaves and twine that he thought was crafty, but now he knows it was probably some kind of charm. He keeps it in a box of Sabrina stuff under his bed. He should throw it out. “Good _night_ , Nick.”

He tries not to look at Nick, even out of the corner of his eye. That shocked feeling skitters along his fingers again. He can’t believe Nick’s mouth has been on his mouth. Nick hasn’t even kissed Sabrina yet, and that relationship is so inevitable that Harvey feels bizarrely guilty about stealing their first kiss. It’s not a good thought spiral. It’s the kind of spiral Sabrina used to talk him out of, but she’s not available for that anymore, so Harvey will just have to go inside and draw until it drowns out his brain.

It’s not such a bad mouth, as long as Nick isn’t using it to say anything.

“Hey.” Nick’s hand settles over Harvey’s, sure and warm, and his voice has real regret in it. “I am sorry. I forget, you mortals are so — but that isn’t the point. This is why it’s practice, isn’t it? So I can make mistakes.”

Harvey stamps down on the urge the people-please, but it comes out anyway. “No, it’s fine, I was just surprised. I didn’t think you —” He lets go of the doorknob to face Nick again, but that proves to be a stupid decision, because Nick is so much closer than Harvey thought he would be. He’s a sharp thing in the shadows, his black clothes blending in, his dark hair — he’s just a jawline, his expression drowned out. A jawline, and a mouth. 

_Try again_ , Harvey could tell him. _Let’s get it right_.

He thinks about what his dad would say if he came home to Harvey kissing a boy on the front porch. And that might be the only reason he doesn’t say it. “You want a cup of tea?”

Nick gives him an indisputable smile — brilliant, triumphant. “I prefer coffee, farm boy, but I’ll take what I can get.”

“It’s too late for coffee,” Harvey says, almost stern. “You’ll be up all night. Not that you ever sleep, anyway.”

“ _Ever_ ,” Nick scoffs, following when Harvey finally gets the door open. “What do you know, Kinkle? I don’t recall seeing you in the Academy dormitories, taking notes on my sleep patterns.”

“Kinkle you got, but my first name is just a no-go, huh?”

“Well, it’s somewhat more memorable because it has the word _kink_ in it —"

“Oh my _god!”_

“Language,” Nick chides pleasantly. Harvey regrets many things, but chief among them is his persistent inviting of Nicholas Scratch in from the cold.


End file.
